Oktoberfest!

Sorry again that it is sideways, but this is Jim Morrison's grave site in France.

Proust.

Oscar Wilde's grave-- notice all the lipstick kisses.

English Gardens in Germany.

I can not figure out how to turn this but this would be an example of the incorrect way to hold the beer glasses. There is a method to avoid bruising and exhaustion. Taken at the English Gardens. The correct way is demonstrated below by the sailor from Arkansas, Jason.









Our beer tent for the day.

I made in throught the weekend in Germany and am now very lost at an internet cafe in Rome.

My last two days in Paris I spent wondering around the Left bank and went to the National Cemetary. Getting around in Paris and Munich was so easy, Rome on the other hand is not.

I got the Germany on the overnight train Thursday morning, getting into Munich around 9am. The overnight train was nifty, although I did not sleep very much. I started to get a cold which was full blown by the morning.

I put my stuff in an locker, pulled out a map and started to walk the streets. I wondered around, purposely lost (unlike now, this is not on purpose) all day through gardens, fountains, walking past museums and statues. I ended up in the English Gardens walking around for a couple of hours. A couple from Madison, Wisconsin directed me to the beer garden in the middle of the Gardens where I had a beer and read my book in the afternoon sun. Afterwards, I walked through the German Contemporary Art museum (in your honor, Louisa) which only took about fifteen minutes. At one point, I tried to enter an exhibit I was not supposed to and get screamed at in German. That was not fun.

I checked into my hostel around 5, at which point my head felt like it was going to explode. I feel asleep reading my book for about an hour and spent the rest of the evening talking with my Aussie bunk mate would had broken his arm in Slovania the day before bike riding. We all were in bed early.

I got up the next morning and met Rider and her friends at the main train terminal. We got ride of our bags and then continued our walking trek around the city. I took them back to the English Gardens where we all had lunch and a couple of drinks. We stayed there for most of the afternoon hanging out and then wondered to the other side of the gardens around the lake. It is the second biggest garden (after Central Park) in the world, which we learned the hard way. When we finally got out, we found ourselves in the street wear-- what they call teenager clothes in Europe-- district and hung out there for a bit before having dinner.

After dinner, we went to the Hofbrahous for a drink. Obviously a tourist trap, but interesting to go see. There were people there from all over the world (Scottish boys in kilts, a boy from North Carolina studying abroad) that we bonded with for a couple hours. The servers can hold like 9 liters of beer at once, it was insane. They were also not very nice.

The next day we got up EARLY to go to Oktoberfest, nothing like setting an alarm to drink. We got a little confused and spent a small part of the morning in a tractor festival and then figured it out. After wondering around, we found an outdoor picnic table at one of the beer tents where we posted up for the rest of the day. Rider, her friend Shannon and I collected a variety of people throughout the morning to share our picnic table--a girl and her friends from Australia, a sailor from Arkansas on an exchage in Scotland with the Royal Navy, some boys from Ireland, a group of old men who explained to me they were looking for German brides, all sorts. It was like one big party with singing, cheering, dancing on the table and in many cases, lots and lots of drinking. I lost my voice around 11am due to my cold (I did not end up drinking that much, mom, promise) for an hour or two. Around 10pm, the crowds started to disperse.

Sunday morning we had breakfast at a German diner and then I got on the day long train to Rome. Once I reached my hostel, I crawled into bed and fell asleep. This morning all I have to report is that I am very very lost. Rider, at a different internet cafe, is trying to google me directions.

Gigi comes tomorrow! I am very excited to see here before she starts her job in France. We plan on eating good food, buying fancy shoes and drinking lots and lots of wine. It is going to be spectacular.